Snaking Across America

**gansogris** · 02-24-2008, 04:24 PM

Hi

I'm visiting America for the first time and was thinking of doing a road trip with a friend over the course of a month, possibly April/May, driving from West to East starting at Los Angeles and ending in New York going via Las Vegas, Santa Fe, Austin, New Orleans, Memphis, Nashville, Chicago, Buffalo.

So for four weeks of travel I was thinking of a budget of about $4000 each to take in accomodation, car-hire and fuel, food and provisions.

I was thinking about maybe visiting one of the canyons and possibly doing a bit of camping along the way to cut costs.

Is this a doable schedule and have you any advise for a first time visitor from the UK?

G

**Midwest Michael** · 02-24-2008, 05:35 PM

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

4 weeks is a great amount of time to drive across country, and I think your budget seems fairly reasonable, as long as you are at least 25. If you are under that age, the cost of renting a car could start taking a pretty big bite out of your budget. I'd expect you'd be spending about $1000 each on car rental, fuel, and lodging (assuming you do at least some camping), leaving you $1000 leftover for food and other expenses. You'll certainly have to watch
your budget at that level, but it should be within the range of reason.

(edit to add: I just realized you said $4000 each, effectively doubling your budget, making this trip very doable financially)

Otherwise, the vast majority of the information on this site is dedicated to helping people make roadtrips. Simply look around for a while at both the forum and the planning section, which should give you a good base to start your planning.